QUEENS

TRUCK DRIVER CHARGED IN JFK AIRPORT ART HEIST

A $1.5 million painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the graffiti artist of the 1980s who achieved critical acclaim, first reported stolen from John F. Kennedy International Airport two weeks ago, has been recovered by police from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Queens district attorney said.

A truck driver, Anthony Porcelli, 35, of Staten Island, has been charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property. Police said Mr. Porcelli, a driver with a New Jersey-based company, Cace Trucking, allegedly stole the painting called “Untitled 1982” by removing a wooden crate labeled “painting” from a cargo warehouse at JFK. The painting was recovered at the Cace Trucking warehouse in Elizabeth, N.J., authorities said. The painting had been sold in November at the Manhattan auction house Christie’s and was being sent to its buyer in Rome via London. Mr. Porcelli, who was identified by police using video surveillance equipment, would face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

– Special to the Sun

MANHATTAN

CHELSEA NIGHTCLUB WORKER CHARGED WITH RAPE

An 18-year-old woman claims a bathroom attendant at a Chelsea nightclub raped her after he followed her into a bathroom over the weekend, police said yesterday.

About 12:15 a.m. on Sunday, the woman was out with friends at the Coral Club on West 29th Street, when, according to police, she approached the club’s bathroom attendant, identified by law-enforcement authorities as Moulaye Diakite, 26, of the Bronx, and said she intended to use a bathroom.

At that point, police said, Mr. Diakite showed her to a bathroom, followed her inside, and then locked the door. Inside a stall, the woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by Mr. Diakite, police said. After a scuffle, the victim pushed Mr. Diakite away and fled the room. Mr. Diakite was arrested and is being held on $10,000 bail on charges of first-degree rape. A court-appointed attorney, Seth Gross, said Mr. Diakite denied the rape charges.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MORGENTHAU COLLECTS BIG ENDORSEMENTS IN HARLEM

Gearing up for one of his toughest re-election challenges yet, the Manhattan district attorney, Robert Morgenthau received campaign endorsements from several New York political giants yesterday in Harlem, including the former mayor, David Dinkins, the Manhattan borough president, C. Virginia Fields, and Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel.

The endorsements came less than a week after a former state Supreme Court justice, Leslie Crocker Snyder, stepped into the race, announcing that she would take on the 85-year-old district attorney of New York County, who has held the office since 1974 and is seeking his ninth term.

Mr. Dinkins dismissed recent claims that Mr. Morgenthau is too old for the job. “It is not about how long you serve. It is about how well you do it,” he said.

A spokesman for Ms. Snyder’s campaign, Eric Pugatch, said he was not surprised by Mr. Morgenthau’s decision to turn to the “party stalwarts” for endorsements. The real issue, though, is whether the district attorney can provide a fresh direction for the office, he said. “After three decades, the office has grown stale and out of touch with the challenges of our time,” Mr. Pugatch said.

-Special to the Sun

CITYWIDE

FERRER NOT CONCERNED ABOUT SAGGING POLL NUMBERS

The former Bronx borough president, Fernando Ferrer, said last night that he wasn’t concerned about his sagging mayoral race poll numbers after commenting in March that the accidental killing of unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo in 1999 by police was “not a crime.” The four policemen involved were eventually acquitted of any crime. “Polls go up and down, landscapes change all the time,” Mr. Ferrer said on New York 1’s “Road to City Hall” television program. “This was always going to be a competitive race.”

Mr. Ferrer said if Diallo became an issue in the race, he would ask Mr. Bloomberg where he was when the killing took place. A spokesman for the mayor said Mr. Bloomberg “has gone out of his way not to politicize this tragedy.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION ENDORSES FERRER

The city’s largest transit workers’ union endorsed a Democrat, Fernando Ferrrer, yesterday in his bid for mayor.

The president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union of America, Roger Toussaint, said Mr. Ferrer, a former borough president of the Bronx, had the best chance of unseating Mayor Bloomberg, whom Mr. Toussaint said has not lobbied hard enough for the city’s subways and buses.

A spokesman for the mayor’s campaign, Stuart Loeser, said: “While Freddy has made a career of grandstanding and pandering, Mike Bloomberg has been making sure we make the investments necessary to keep our mass-transit system running.” The union has approximately 38,000 members.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BLOOMBERG WOULD REJECT ‘FIVE MINUTE’ DOUBLE-PARKING BILL

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday said he would put the kibosh on a bill that would make it legal to double-park for up to five minutes.

Mr. Bloomberg told reporters that the bill, which is being proposed by a City Council member from Brooklyn, Vincent Gentile, was not “terribly practical.”

“I don’t know that we want to have our police cars sitting there for five minutes with a stopwatch. It may sound good, but in a practical sense there are no ways to enforce it,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

Mr. Gentile said yesterday that double-parking should not be condoned, however “if you have to do it for two or three minutes, we shouldn’t give you a ticket.” He said city traffic agents did not understand the “spirit of the law.” The City Council’s transportation committee chairman, John Liu, said it would be difficult to pass the bill given the mayor’s opposition and the city’s fiscal situation. Mr. Liu’s committee will hold a hearing on the matter next month.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BROOKLYN

9/11 MEMORIAL DEDICATED ON BAY RIDGE PIER

Mayor Bloomberg, Rep. Vito Fossella, and State Senator Martin Golden unveiled a memorial to honor the 283 Kings County victims of the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center attack yesterday on Veteran’s Pier at 69th Street in Bay Ridge. The bronze trumpet-shaped memorial features a beacon of light shining from the top that will be illuminated from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. each evening. Both Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty can be seen from the memorial.

The beacon was designed and built by artist Robert Ressler, whose design was selected through a competition put together by Brooklyn Remembers, the city’s Arts Commission, and the Parks Department.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ALBANY

PATAKI PLANS TO GO AHEAD WITH STADIUM VOTE

Governor Pataki said yesterday that despite opposition from legislative leaders, he would press ahead with plans to have a state board take a crucial vote this week on building a new stadium on the West side of Manhattan for the New York Jets and possibly the 2012 Olympics.

The state’s three-member Public Authorities Control Board, which includes representatives of Mr. Pataki, state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, must approve $300 million in state funding for the project.

Mr. Pataki, a supporter of the stadium project, had earlier said he expected the board to vote on the issue at its meeting tomorrow. But on Sunday, both Mr. Silver, a Democrat, and Mr. Bruno, a Republican, said they wanted the vote postponed. Mr. Pataki said he had no intention of taking the vote off the agenda.

– Associated Press